Anti-obesity Activity of Ethanol Extract from Bitter Melon in Mice Fed High-Fat Diet.

In many cases, obesity is associated with metabolic disorders. Recently, natural compounds that may be beneficial for improving obesity have received increasing attention. Bitter melon has received attention as a diabetes treatment.

Acetoacetate protects neuronal cells from oxidative glutamate toxicity.

Glutamate cytotoxicity contributes to neuronal degeneration in many central nervous system (CNS) diseases, such as epilepsy and ischemia. We previously reported that a high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet, the ketogenic diet (KD), protects against kainic acid-induced hippocampal cell death in mice. We hypothesized based on these findings that ketosis resulting from KD might inhibit glutamate cytotoxicity, resulting in inhibition of hippocampal neuronal cell death.